Remember when CC Sabathia used to be the stopper in the rotation? Those were good times. He called back to those times last night, turning in one of his best starts of the season to lead the Yankees to a 5-1 win and end their brief 2-game skid.

Seattle got its 1 run in the bottom of the 3rd on a 1-out triple by Leonys Martin and ribbie single by Ketel Marte, but it was more a bad route in right field by Aaron Judge that led to the triple than a bad pitch by CC. Other than that inning, CC held the Mariners to 1 hit and struck out 7 in 7 total innings and he was in complete command of his stuff all night.

The Yankee offense spread its run out across the whole game. They got on the board first in the top of the 2nd when the red hot Ronald Torreyes doubled in Aaron Judge, and assumed the lead on Jacoby Elslbury's 2-run home run in 5th. Judge came through with a sac fly to make it 4-1 in the 6th inning, and Didi Gregorius doubled in Ellsbury for good measure in the 9th.

Joe didn't need much from his bullpen thanks to Sabathia's strong outing, and the tandem of Tommy Layne and Dellin Betances gave him no reason for concern over the final 2 innings. The Yanks can come back to take the series on the final game of the road trip this afternoon.

Game Notes:

- Man, what a game for the big guy. 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K. He threw 70 strikes on 101 pitches, 14 of them swinging. We don't get games like this from CC very often anymore, but they sure are fun when we do.

- Ronnie T is a BEAST! 3-4 night, 2 doubles, and he's now 8-12 on the road trip. Joe has to leave him in the lineup today. Has to.

- Judge has cooled down considerably since his first few games, and he clearly still needs work as a big league outfielder, but it was good to see him find ways to contribute yesterday. Drew a walk that end up coming around to score, drove in an insurance run with a sac fly. Those are the types of plays young rookies can fail to make because they're trying too hard or still adjusting or whatever. I think it speaks well for Judge's future that he's poised and calm enough to make plays like that so early in his career.

- Ellsbury's homer was his 6th of the year. It was also the only hit he had in 5 trips to the plate, leaving his season OPS at a whopping .689.